Something new for my toolbox: FTDI Basic

I decided to pick up an FTDI board so that I can explore a new way to program the Atmega328p, specifically to see first-hand that it works so I can implement an FTDI header in the next Atmega328p Breakout Board. The FTDI Basic is a Sparkfun board, though I purchased it from RobotShop because they can ship within Canada.

I believe the one feature that sets it apart from the USBtinyISP (what you use those 6-pin ISP headers with on the Arduino, etc) is that enables you to do serial communication. This makes it a lot better for prototyping since you can debug using the serial monitor.

The original purpose of the Breakout Board was to take over from your Uno once you are finished prototyping… not really to use it to prototype. Technically speaking, there’s nothing wrong with prototyping on the Breakout Board, but it’s not currently breadboard-friendly and it only got a programming header (ISP) in the last revision. It sounds like an excuse, and it is, but to keep the board small while keeping the pins in order, it’s hard to organize the traces in the restricted amount of space to make the board breadboard-friendly. It’s a learning process with each board and revision so I hope I have learned enough to make it happen with the next one!Anyways, in short, the FTDI Basic works perfectly. I tested it with this Atmega328p setup on a breadboard. After installing the FTDI drivers, I was able to upload new sketches and print things to the serial monitor.

The one odd thing is that I had the understanding that to upload using the FTDI board, I had to hold shift while clicking Upload in the Arduino IDE, which changes it to “Uploading Using a Programmer”. That didn’t work. After a few searches, it turns out that changing the Programmer in the IDE to “Arduino as ISP” does the trick.

Getting up and running with the FTDI Basic so quickly makes me eager to get it into the next Atmega328p Breakout Board. I’m on the fence about keeping the 6-pin ISP header since you have more functionality from the FTDI chip (serial communication). I’d like to keep both, but if I can’t fit both on the small board, the 6-pin ISP header would be the one to go. Stay tuned!